Moving Forward
by CSM
Summary: While in the process of moving out of their apartment, Charming comes across Emma's baby blanket and old memories resurface of that fateful day.


**Title: Moving Forward.**

**Author: CSM**

**Summary: **While in the process of moving out of their apartment, Charming comes across Emma's baby blanket and old memories resurface.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own OUAT

**AN: ** This is in response to a prompt I got on tumblr, just a little Snowing and Charming family fluff. If you want to send me prompts you can leave it in my ask on tumblr my tumblr is emma-charmingswan (shameless pimping :P). Personally I hate how the show keeps switching back and forth between names all the time, but I honestly think Charming's real name is David so I'm just leaving it at that, and Snow will still be Snow. shrug

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**Moving Forward**

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She's sitting on her and David's bed as she folds laundry, grinning when she comes across small Batman boxers, her grandson's fascination with comic books always amuses her, even more so when Henry took it upon himself to teach his Gramps all about Spiderman, Batman and all the other super heroes she knows nothing about.

Its been a little over a month since she and Emma have returned and they are all slowly settling into some kind of routine, a routine that will soon be interrupted yet again as they slowly begin to move into the knew house they purchased recently. There are boxes lining the perimeter of the small apartment, for people who have lived in one small town for 28 years, she and David surely have collected a lot of things, even David who technically has only been awake for a little less than a year. Emma surprisingly has gathered some things since moving here as well, gone was the woman who moved into her apartment with a handful of boxes and now the small loft upstairs, that Emma and Henry were sharing is filled with boxes. Not to mention Henry, eleven year olds apparently have a _lot_ of stuff, stuff that seems to find itself in every part of the house, she's still not sure how one of his action figures ended up in the freezer.

She hums to herself as she puts away Henry's clothes moving to Emma's and smiles when her husband walks into the small nook of their room, wiping his brow, free of sweat, panting slightly. They are currently in the middle of moving houses and he and a few of the dwarfs are moving their miscellaneous items, before they start moving the much larger things.

"Hey, there is some lemonade for you and the dwarfs when you guys take a break." She says to him as she folds one of Emma's sweaters, frowning when she notices a small tear at the shoulder.

She puts it to the side, making a mental note to stitch it up for her daughter. She's about to grab another one of Emma's shirts when a small shadow casts over her pile of unfolded clothes. She looks up startled to see her husband looming over her a grin on his face, before she could ask him what as wrong, he suddenly leans forward placing a small chaste kiss on her lips. She slaps him on the chest, playfully shoving him away when he goes in for another kiss.

"Charming, you're all sweaty." She protests, swatting him before he sits on her freshly washed clothes.

"Never bothered you before." He teases, grabbing her hand and kissing her again, this time she doesn't protest and sinks into the kiss, leaning forward to deepen it.

"Oh god, can't the two of you like wait till you move into your room with four walls and a _door_." Their daughter's voice rings out behind them.

They immediately pull back, David standing a grin on his face, not at all deterred by Emma's exasperated expression, she on the other hand blushes in embarrassment.

"Closed up early?" David asks their daughter, changing the subject, she frowns when she realizes he just sat on all of her freshly folded clothes.

"Yea, with Hook still in the hospital, the place seems to be dead on a Saturday." Emma says as she starts poking around the closed pots on the stove.

Snow grins in amusement, she's almost 100% certain, her daughter's boredom at work has nothing to do with her closing up early, but the fact that Snow cooked baked chicken and cream of broccoli casserole, Emma's favourite.

"And you're sure it has _nothing_ to do with the fact your mother cooked your favourite?" David teases, sending Snow a grin.

"The casserole is best when it _just_ comes out." Emma says already picking at the food and munching on a hot piece of broccoli.

"Emma, stop picking at the food and get a plate." Snow says more in amusement than in exasperation, smiling as Emma sends her a sheepish look.

"Did Henry eat?" Emma asks, smiling gratefully at David who gets a plate for her.

"Not yet, I think he said something about beating the next level of his game before he does?" Snow asks, not to sure what that entails.

Emma though rolls her eyes and looks up towards the loft, "Hey kid! Pause the game and come and eat."

"I'm almost at the final battle!" Henry protests, his voice traveling throughout the small apartment.

"Well that means you can pause it then." Emma calls out, already taking out another plate and dishing out food for Henry.

"But Mom, I'm so close." Henry says with a whine.

Snow and Charming listen on silently, watching as Emma frowns putting down the plate, they both agreed that when it came to Henry, Emma should be the one to set the rules and disciplining him. Not to say they don't help, but times like this they both agreed that Emma should take the responsibility here. Its been adjustment for all of them, these new roles and its taking Henry a while to realize that Emma being his mother completely now, entails the good and the disciplining part as well. Emma herself is still getting use to having to put her foot down, as before she would let him get away with almost everything because he lived with Regina.

"Henry its after 2 in the afternoon, I know for a fact you had breakfast _hours_ ago. If you don't come down stairs to eat now you can forget about ever getting to that battle."

Snow eyebrows raise as the soft sounds of Henry game comes to a halt and the wooden floor on the loft bangs loudly as Henry stomps his way around the room. She looks across at Emma and sees that Emma isn't even bothered by Henry's antics, as she continues dishing out her food. A few weeks ago Emma would have felt guilty and immediately caved. She and David exchange another look, as he helps himself to some lemonade.

When Henry does emerge from the stairs, Emma hands him the plate, and she sighs when he doesn't even looks at her and takes it silently as he walks to the dinner table plopping onto the chair sulking as he begins to eat. Besides his demeanor though, Snow can see he's famished and already scarfing down the food.

"I'm sorry, I should have made sure he ate." Snow apologizes as she walks up to Emma, she after all was watching the boy today, as David moved their stuff into the new house and Emma was at work.

"It's okay, he is old enough to know when its time to eat. Its just that new game of his, he forgets to check the time." Emma says easily as she takes a seat on one of the stools at the counter, she smiles gratefully at David who places a lemonade in front of her after going to give Henry his own, "I'll talk to him after."

"Oh Emma, since you're here, what other boxes can go over to the house?" David asks, "We're hoping to move all the boxes today, and tomorrow start with the furniture."

"There are a few of Henry and my stuff under the stairs," Emma says in between bites, she suddenly stands up grabbing both her plate and her glass moving to the table where Henry is silently eating.

Snow watches as they both sit in silence for a while, Henry turning so his back is to Emma, but then Emma says something softly to him and Henry pauses for a minute but then turns around so he's facing Emma. He smiles sheepishly, and then starts to talk animatedly to Emma as though the last five minutes never happened. Snow smiles affectionately, turning around to look for her husband wondering what is taking him so long, but she frowns when she sees he's now sitting on their bed, his back hutched over as he clutches something in his hand.

"Charming?" She calls out with concern.

He looks across at her, his eyes red and he's clutching a familiar white knitted blanket with purple embroidery on it.

"Oh." She says with a small gasp, flattering as she takes a seat next to him, fingering the small bit of purple ribbon, that is now tattered at the end. She forgot Emma had this, of course she's seen it before, as Mary Margret, at the time she thought it was beautiful and almost familiar, never really knowing the significance of it.

"Sorry." David says softly, his grip now loosening on the old blanket, "I saw it and all those memories of that day came back and I…I couldn't…it still feels like only yesterday you know?"

She nods silently rubbing her husband's back reassuringly, knowing all to well the overwhelming feeling she still gets about that fateful night. Every little quirk of Emma's she's still learning about, reminds her that she's only _now _learning these things and that its not something she should know just from being Emma's mother. But also, that night reminds her of what she almost lost, holding her husband's body in her arms, and she's just grateful they've all gotten a second chance to be a family. Maybe not how she and Charming always envisioned it but it's better than the last 28 year years of loneliness she had been enduring, unaware of her family and who she is.

"I know. " She says soothingly, placing a kiss on his shoulder, "But Emma's fine, you're fine and we have our family all together. That's all that matters."

David nods, as he runs his finger along Emma's name, "After all she's told us, or the small bits of her past at least, I didn't think she'd keep this."

"Our daughter may be a tough cookie, and we still have a _lot _of her walls to breakdown when it comes to her letting us in, but she has the biggest heart I know and she's _very _sentimental." Snow says knowingly, "She had very little things when she first moved in with me, which I always thought was odd, sad even. But now I know that almost every one of those things hold sentimental value to her. She's very much our daughter, when she finds something she loves, she never lets it go."

David grins proudly at that, looking across the room to Emma and Henry who are currently chatting animatedly in between bites of their meals, "Besides the blanket, is there anything she's told you about?"

Snow shakes her head, resting it on his shoulder, "No, but I'm certain in time she will."

She smiles when David presses a soft kiss to her forehead, "We just have to not give up on her."

"Exactly."

They sit in silence for a while, each of them occupied with their own thoughts, so much so they don't hear when Henry clampers up the stairs after eating or when Emma knocks on the wooden post to gain their attention.

"Hey, I was wondering if..." Emma trails off when she sees what is resting on David's lap, "Oh... I thought I had put that in one of the boxes upstairs."

"Sorry." David apologizes offering the blanket to Emma, "I found it in one of the boxes, I never thought I'd see it again."

Emma shrugs sheepishly, no doubt uncomfortable at the scrutiny both she and Charming are currently giving their daughter, but Snow can't help but be curious, before when the topic of the blanket came up, despite the fact that Emma talked freely about finding them, she never did divulge anything more to Mary Margret. Part of Snow hopes, now that Emma knows who they are, she may share a little bit more with them. They both watch eagerly as Emma fingers the purple ribbon, deep in thought, before she sighs and takes a seat on the chair in the corner of the room, facing them.

She doesn't look at them but looks down at the blanket caressing the soft material, seeing that her daughter clearly wants to say something but is still struggling with her own inner deamons, Snow clears her throat and speaks softly, "Granny knitted that for you, I put off telling her your name for as long as I could, because your father didn't know we were having a girl."

Emma looks up startled at that revelation, "I thought Gold was the one to tell you that?"

Charming shakes his head smiling slightly, "Oh no, your mother knew _long_ before we were even married."

Emma's eyes widen at that looking over at Snow for confirmation, "Technically we found at our first wedding, but all in the same, I knew we were having a girl, long before you were conceived."

Emma wrinkles her nose at the thought, and Snow can't help but chuckle at her daughter's antics, but then Emma sobers up and she looks down at her baby blanket again, "You know when I was younger, I use to think that something terrible happened to my parents ands thats why they left me. I was convinced that no one, who had a custom made blanket knitted for me, would ever willingly give me up. You just don't put that kind of effort into a kid you don't want. But then as I got older, and more cynical I decided I should just be grateful they at least left me in something warm."

Snow heart aches at her daughter's words wanting more than anything to go to her and reassure her she was and still is very much wanted and loved, "Emma..."

Emma shakes her head, blinking away the tears that threatens to fall, "After learning the truth, and seeing my nursery, I know now how much the two of you gave up for me. What it meant for you to send me away. Its still comforting to know after all this time that I was wrong and I was very much wanted."

"Oh Emma." Snow says her voice breaking, and this time she doesn't even hesitate before she moves to her daughter pulling the younger woman into a hug, when she pulls back, they are both teary eyed, and David is standing over them his hand resting on Emma's shoulder, his own eyes red. Snow cups Emma's cheeks with both her hands and smiles at her tearily.

"You, my darling daughter, can't even begin to imagine how wanted and loved you truly are." Snow says softly as she wipes away a stray tear from Emma's cheek with her thumb, King George's curse at the back of mind, "_Never_ doubt that for a second."

Emma smiles, but Snow can see immediately as she tenses, that Emma is feeling uncomfortable at her proximity, and no doubt at the term of endearment Snow just used, something she's never called Emma in fear it would cause Emma to put back up all her walls. Snow smiles knowingly at her daughter, standing up as she brushes away her own tears, and Charming places a hand on her waist. Much to their surprise though, instead of changing the topic completely Emma speaks softly, as she wipes her own eyes.

"I kinda wish I could have brought back something from the nursery." She speaks sheepishly, slightly embarrassed at revealing this to them, "I mean I know it held no significance to me because it was never mines..."

"Those were always your things Emma." Charming says , "You may not have gotten to use them, but they were yours just as much as your blanket. From the moment we announced we were expecting the entire kingdom flooded us with gifts for you."

At his words Emma shifts uncomfortably in her seat, Snow knows while their daughter can accept the fact that _they_ wanted her, she doesn't think she's quite ready to hear that an entire _kingdom_ was welcoming her with open arms, "Okay, how about we start packing up more of of the things in the kitchen? I'm hoping we can full move in tomorrow and start to organize before Monday."

Emma and David groan simultaneously, as David goes back to the boxes and Emma slowly follows her behind, leaving her baby blanket on their bed, "How did we end up with so much stuff anyway? I feel like I've been packing for _weeks."_

Snow grins at her daughter's whining tone, "Must be magic."

Emma groans at that bad pun grabbing an empty box, "I wish _I_ could magically make these boxes pack themselves."

Snow chuckles wholeheartedly at that taking out some of the pots and pans from the cupboard, "You may be powerful, Emma dear, but Mary Poppins you are not."

"You're not even funny." Emma grumbles not even noticing the term of endearment, as she throws a dish cloth at Snow, making Snow laugh as they continue to banter while packing up their kitchen.

That fateful night will always be a sore subject for their family, but Snow is glad to know that they are slowly moving forward from it and trying their hardest to not let it rule their lives.

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**I wanted to add more to the drabble to make it a complete fic, and it ended up twice as long lol. All my Snowing fics some how always end up being Charming Family fics.**

**Reviews are love :)**


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